Chapter 68: Silver Soul (Earth Arc)

Yoshiwara, once a paradise for men, had now welcomed the sun. At last, the women of Yoshiwara no longer had to live forever in darkness, and Shota was now living together with Nichirin. With the Night King gone, many demons and monsters once hidden in the shadows emerged, and most of the women in Yoshiwara, besides charming men, knew nothing else. For their sake, Nichirin chose to stay, while Tsukuyo also remained with Hyakka’s group, both to protect Nichirin and to guard Yoshiwara itself.

A new dawn had come to Yoshiwara.

After matters in Yoshiwara were settled, Take Okakura was sent to the hospital, her hands crippled. She spent quite some time there, and during her stay, work had piled up into mountains. When she was finally discharged and saw the desk stacked high with documents, all she felt was a splitting headache.

“Ouse-kun, didn’t you help me process a lot of files? Why are there still so many?” Take Okakura slumped over her desk, utterly drained.

“Chief, you took quite a long break, and some documents require your personal signature,” Ouse replied.

“All right...” Take Okakura massaged her temples and resumed tackling the papers.

Bang!

“Take-chan! Something terrible’s happened!”

With a tremendous crash, her office door was kicked open and Kagura burst in, panic written all over her face.

“Kagura-chan, you’re too rough,” Shinpachi said, following close behind.

“What’s going on?” Take Okakura raised her head.

Kagura hurried over, slapped a letter onto the desk, and exclaimed, “Take-chan! Someone sent this letter saying Gin-chan’s been abducted aru!”

“Kagura-chan, it’s not abduction, it’s kidnapping!” Shinpachi corrected.

“Abduction? Kidnapping? That natural perm?” Take Okakura took the letter curiously. Who on earth would kidnap that good-for-nothing? What value could he possibly have? With these thoughts, she opened the letter.

“I live in a luxury 1LDK apartment now, come find me quickly, the address is...” Take Okakura softly read the contents.

“Well, that’s nothing, did he finally make enough to move house?” Take Okakura remarked.

“No, Okakura-san, the key point is the other letter inside the envelope,” Shinpachi said.

“Hm? There’s another one?” Take Okakura looked inside and found, as expected, another letter. She pulled it out.

On the snowy white paper, a dark red bloody handprint stood out starkly, beneath which was a line of blood-red writing—Save me!!!

“You can’t be serious! What’s going on?” Take Okakura brought the letter to her nose—it was real blood!

“Did you report this to the police?” Take Okakura asked.

“We did, but the police haven’t found a trace of Gin-san yet. Though I wondered if it was a prank at first, this time I really have a bad feeling, Okakura-san...” Shinpachi hung his head, dejected.

A bloody handprint, a cry for help, a strange letter... What on earth happened to that curly-haired fool? Take Okakura pondered as she examined the letter.

“Ouse-kun, which documents are urgent? Pull those out for me first,” Take Okakura said.

“Ah, yes, Chief.” Ouse hurriedly produced a large stack for her.

“All right, Ouse-kun, I’ll leave these to you! Remember to imitate my handwriting,” Take Okakura said with a smile, patting him on the shoulder.

“Eh?! Chief!” Ouse looked thoroughly shocked.

“I’m counting on you, Ouse-kun. I believe in your abilities, haha.”

“Chief...” Ouse’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “Come back soon...”

“I will, Ouse. My hands are healed now, so I can take some documents home. You know my home code. Just send over anything you can’t handle,” Take Okakura said.

“All right...” Ouse had barely begun to respond when he saw Take Okakura running off with Kagura and Shinpachi. He sighed. His boss was usually diligent, but now and then she could be willful. Still, compared to the previous boss who exploited him, Chief Okakura was a great improvement.

Ouse decided to get back to the paperwork—after all, good jobs were hard to find these days.

“Strange, Shinpachi, the address is right here in the letter. Have you been to the place it mentions?” Take Okakura asked.

“We went there with the police last time, but it was just an empty house, no sign of Gin-san,” Shinpachi replied.

“Take-chan, what do we do? Could Gin-chan have already been silenced? Just like in detective dramas, stuffed in a cement barrel and dumped into Tokyo Bay aru,” Kagura worried.

“Kagura-chan, don’t imagine the worst. Though Gin-san’s usually useless, he pulls through in a crisis, and he’s way too afraid of death to let himself get killed off,” Take Okakura reassured.

Still... this letter was indeed strange. Take Okakura examined it again.

“Kagura-chan, Shinpachi, do you remember exactly where the address is?” Take Okakura asked.

“Yes, I remember...”

Boom! Before Shinpachi could finish, there was an explosion at the convenience store ahead. The blast left the three of them stunned.

“Sogo! You little punk, always like this—today I swear I’m going to kill you!” A man, blackened from the blast, crawled out from the rubble, roaring.

The three rolled their eyes. It turned out to be someone they knew...

“Sorry, Hijikata, I almost managed to take you and those anti-government samurai out at once.” Sogo strolled down from a car, rocket launcher slung over his shoulder.

“You brat!” Hijikata was even angrier.

“Shinpachi, look, the tax thieves are fighting amongst themselves! This is how our tax money is wasted—what ugly police we have, aru,” Kagura said, shaking her head.

Hijikata and Sogo finally noticed Take Okakura and company.

“So, Chief Okakura, you’re going to look for that idiot with these two kids?” Sogo asked, turning from the passenger seat.

Since Take Okakura thought having two police officers along would help, she’d asked Hijikata and Sogo to give them a ride.

“That’s right,” Take Okakura nodded.

“In the end, it’s because you tax thieves are so useless you still haven’t found Gin-chan, aru,” Kagura said, arms folded, glaring at Sogo.

“Miss Kagura, we’re Special Task Force officers, meant for counter-terrorism, not for missing persons like you,” Sogo replied.

“That’s just shirking responsibility! As police, you should protect all of Edo’s citizens equally!” Kagura protested.

“Sorry, but you’re not a citizen, you’re an Amanto. You’re not under my protection,” Sogo said, feigning innocence.

“You jerk!” Kagura snapped.

“Well, Sogo, since it’s a personal request from Chief Okakura, let’s help look for that sugar addict,” Hijikata, who was driving, said.

“By the way, Hijikata, people who eat dog food like you aren’t under my protection either,” Sogo sneered.

“Why? Do you not even consider me human anymore, you brat?!” Hijikata shouted.

“Hijikata-san, have you ever heard of a case like this before?” Take Okakura suddenly asked.

Hijikata pondered for a moment, then his eyes widened as if he remembered something.

“I know! The place you’re heading to is one of Edo’s infamous haunted houses!” he exclaimed.

“What?!” Everyone in the car gasped.

“There was a murder there—a man thought his wife was cheating and killed her, even though she was pregnant. After that, anyone who lived there, or was close to someone who did, met with misfortune. Seven people have died there to date,” Hijikata explained.

Shinpachi’s face froze. After a while, he managed to speak. “Isn’t this just like that famous horror movie, you know, The Grudge or something...”

“Hmph, as if. There’s no such thing as ghosts. But even if there were, I’d slice them in half,” Hijikata scoffed.

His words only earned incredulous, scornful looks from Sogo, Kagura, and Shinpachi.

“Hey! What’s with those infuriating looks?!” Hijikata’s temple throbbed.

“All right, whether it’s ghosts or kidnappers, let’s find that curly-haired fool first,” Take Okakura said.

“Yeah, I just hope Gin-san isn’t caught up in something weird again,” Shinpachi worried.

Shinpachi, you know him well—he’s trouble magnet incarnate, thought Take Okakura.

Soon, the five of them arrived at the address from the letter—a luxurious apartment.

“So this is it...” Take Okakura wondered aloud. That curly-haired guy was so poor, how could he end up somewhere this fancy?

Inside, they were stopped by security.

“Police investigation,” Hijikata flashed his badge.

The guard let them through immediately.

They took the elevator to the infamous apartment. Only then did they notice the door was locked.

“How do we get in? Should we ask the guard if there’s a spare key?” Shinpachi suggested.

“Tch, why bother.” With that, Hijikata drew his sword and slashed the lock open.

“Is he really a police officer and not a robber?!” Shinpachi exclaimed.

Creak—the door opened, slowly, automatically, its groaning sound enough to set anyone’s teeth on edge.

As the door swung wide, Take Okakura and the others took in the room’s appearance. Though it was afternoon, the interior was dim. More shocking was the dark brown bloodstains everywhere—on the sofa, the curtains, the table, the floor.

“This can’t be... It’s just too strange...” Shinpachi collapsed to the floor.

All eyes turned to Shinpachi.

“Shinpachi, what’s wrong?” Take Okakura asked.

“Last time... when we came, there wasn’t a single bloodstain! The place was spotless, but now...” Shinpachi trembled.

“If you don’t believe me, ask Kagura.” He turned. “Kagura?”

Take Okakura looked, too.

Kagura was gone.

“Kagura... Kagura!” Take Okakura called, but there was no answer.

“Ahh! What’s going on? Even Kagura’s disappeared! Am I the only Odd Jobs member left? No!” Shinpachi wailed, clutching his head.

“Um... sorry, I just remembered I might have forgotten to turn off the kotatsu when I left home. I need to go back,” Hijikata said, lips twitching, cold sweat pouring down his face.

Liar! You’re just scared!

“Hijikata-san, lying is shameful. If you’re scared, just admit it—go on, shout it out, ‘I’m so scared!’” Sogo taunted with a devilish grin.

“Who’s scared? Of this stuff... I’m not scared at all!” Hijikata blustered, but Take Okakura noticed his hands were clenched into fists.

“All right, Hijikata-san, you take the lead and we’ll follow,” Sogo said.

Hijikata stared at the room, unable to respond.

“What’s this? Aren’t you scared?” Sogo’s voice was like a devil’s whisper, making Hijikata shudder.

Finally, he took a deep breath and walked stiffly into the haunted apartment, his steps so awkward he nearly tripped over himself.

Pop! A sharp sound rang out by his ear.

“It’s here!” Hijikata shrieked and leapt onto the sofa, curling into a ball. After a while, he sensed an odd silence behind him and turned to find Take Okakura and Shinpachi looking at him with disdain, while Sogo smirked, holding a balloon.

Hijikata, mortified, jumped off the sofa and began chasing Sogo.

“Okakura-san... Kagura-chan and Gin-san, will they be all right?” Shinpachi pressed close to Take Okakura, nervous and still clearly frightened.

“They’ll be fine, Shinpachi, don’t worry.” Though Take Okakura said this, she too felt uneasy. Never mind Gin’s disappearance—how had Kagura vanished without a trace?

She began searching the room, Shinpachi clinging to her. In this eerily strange place, his nerves were stretched to the limit.

They reached the bedroom, which was just as stained with blood as the living room.

“What’s with this place? Why is there blood everywhere?” Shinpachi said.

Take Okakura went over and lifted the covers. A foul stench assaulted them.

“Ugh...” Take Okakura pinched her nose.

“Okakura-san... what is that?” Shinpachi cried, staring at the bed.

There was a large, fresh pile of excrement on the sheets.

“What’s going on? Wasn’t this place supposed to be empty for ages?” Take Okakura was shocked.

“Ahhhhhh—!” Suddenly, a scream rang out from outside the bedroom.

Take Okakura and Shinpachi rushed out, only to find Hijikata and Sogo gone from the living room. They checked the kitchen and bathroom, but the two were nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, only Take Okakura and Shinpachi remained in the apartment.

Whoosh—a cold wind began to blow through the sealed room, carrying a scent of blood and rot.

“Okakura... Okakura-san...” Shinpachi trembled uncontrollably, on the verge of fainting.

“It’s all right, Shinpachi, don’t be afraid,” Take Okakura said, though she, too, was a little unnerved.

This apartment... was just too strange.

Creak—from the bedroom they’d just left, the sound of the door opening echoed through the eerie silence, making their nerves stretch taut. Take Okakura and Shinpachi looked toward the bedroom and saw that the light inside was completely gone, as if swallowed by night—they couldn’t see a thing.

What on earth was in there?

Author’s note: This chapter is a slice-of-life episode after Yoshiwara, the one where Gin-san and Madao find the haunted house.